The present invention relates to the technical field of a retrieval system which retrieves an image, image data thereof and image processing information of the image from data base and also to the technical field of an image processing apparatus which is capable of outputting a reprint which appropriately reproduces an image of a simultaneous print utilizing the retrieval system in a photographic printing system or the like.
Heretofore, the images recorded on photographic films such as negative films and reversal films (which are hereunder referred to simply as “films”) have been commonly printed on light-sensitive materials (photographic paper) by means of direct (analog) exposure in which the film image is projected onto the light-sensitive material to achieve its areal exposure.
A new technology has recently been introduced and this is a printer that relies upon digital exposure. Briefly, the image recorded on a film is read photoelectrically, converted to digital signals and subjected to various image processing operations to product image data for recording purposes; recording light that has been modulated in accordance with the image data is used to scan and expose a light-sensitive material to record a latent image, which is subsequently developed to produce a (finished) print. The printer operating on this principle has been commercialized as a digital photoprinter.
In the digital printer, images can be processed as digital image data to determine the exposure conditions for printing. Hence, it is capable of performing various image processing operations such as the correction of washed-out highlights or flat (dull) shadows due to the taking of pictures with backlight or an electronic flash, sharpening and the correction of color or density failures and this enables the production of prints of high quality that has been impossible to achieve by the conventional direct exposure. Further, not only the assembling of images and the splitting of a single image into plural images but also the composition of characters can be performed by processing the image data and, as a result, prints can be outputted after various editing and/or processing operations have been performed in accordance with specific uses.
The digital printer is not limited to the above capability; the image recorded with a digital camera or the like can be outputted as a print; the image is not only outputted as a print, but also can be converted to image data which is then supplied into a computer or the like and/or stored in recording media such as a floppy disk and the like; hence, the image data can be put to various non-photographic uses.
The digital photoprinter having such features basically comprises a scanner (image reading apparatus) for reading an image recorded on the film photoelectrically by projecting a reading light to a film and reading its projection light, an image processing apparatus for carrying out a specified image processing on an image data read by the scanner or an image data supplied from a digital camera or the like so as to obtain an output image data for image recording, that is, exposure condition, a printer (image recording apparatus) for recording the image as a latent image by exposing a light-sensitive material by, for example, scanning with light beam corresponding to an image data outputted from the image processing apparatus, and a processor (developing apparatus) for carrying out development processing on the light-sensitive material exposed by the printer so as to produce a (finished) photographic print in which the image is reproduced.
In the photographic print which is outputted from not only such digital photoprinter, but also the image recorded on the film and the image data recorded with the digital camera, an opportunity often occurs in which the image (frame) printed once is outputted again as a reprint, namely, reprinting is performed in accordance with a request for the extra printing or the like.
In this case, if an instruction for correction is not particularly given, it is demanded that color and density of the image coincide with a previously outputted print (usually, the print outputted at the time of the simultaneous printing that is carried simultaneously with developing the photographed film). In practice, however, a case often occurs in which the color and density of the image differ between the preceding print and the reprint because of an error in judgment or operation of an operator so that many a complaint from a customer is often heard.